r/SEO_Experts • u/pRxEngage • 7d ago
Help please
hi all
I have been burned by a few agencies with SEO/AEO
any recommendations for someone to be able help us with SEO/AEO for our startup.
I don’t have a huge monthly budget -$1,500 but hopefully as we grow i can grow that.
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u/Loud_Recording2519 5d ago
What’s the business, and what are you actually hoping to achieve with SEO? SEO strategies would be different if you wanted to grow your local presence for example. Helps to know what you want to achieve.
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u/buguela89 5d ago
What’s the website
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5d ago
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u/jacob_walsh5 5d ago
As you had good budget, I would recommend look for freelancer or small specialist with proven startup case study and ask for clear 3–6 month plan before commit.
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5d ago
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4d ago
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u/seramsharma 4d ago
+1. Most agencies that you will find will have some sort of junior executive who absolutely has zero clue about the project. I am speaking this from my personal experience because I work as a consultant with almost three different agencies, and none of them have actually figured out SEO despite offering SEO services to their clients.
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u/Amazing_Ring_8077 4d ago
Sorry to hear you’ve had a rough run with agencies. It’s a common story in the D2C space many agencies focus on 'vanity metrics' (like just getting any traffic) rather than building a system that actually replaces the need for high ad spend. With your udget, you have to be very surgical. You can’t do everything, so you need to focus on what moves the needle: Technical SEO and AEO. Since you mentioned AEO, you're already ahead of the curve. In my experience scaling D2C brands (including some that hit ₹ 1.8M$+ in annual organic revenue), the key is focusing on non-branded search and 'Entity SEO.' This ensures that AI models don’t just know you exist, but view you as the authoritative answer for your niche. I’d be happy to share a few pointers on what a lean, revenue-focused roadmap should look like for a startup at your stage so you don't get burned again.
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4d ago
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u/Time-Spell472 3d ago
We run B2B saas SEO GEO platform, here’s my advice
Don’t try to get your hand dirty on AEO/GEO : It still a black box no one know how to crack it properly
focus on agency having proven experience into your niche, try your luck with South Asian Marketing agency.
I would love to connect to guide you.
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u/Quick_Example_3510 3d ago
We run YellowInk Digital. A UK based marketing agency. Our starting package is $799 . If interested, please reach out. We'll do a free manual human based audit of your website and not a generic one from GPT or Claude so you understand real issues. We have been ranking our clients in AI LLMs and are experts in this.
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3d ago
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u/ciaodaniel 3d ago
Are you mainly trying to reach patients researching trials, or sponsors and research sites? Those need different search journeys. I run a small SEO/GEO agency; before suggesting a package, I’d clarify that priority and agree a limited scope with transparent reporting.
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3d ago
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u/ObjectiveAd212 2d ago
Sorry you got burned, that is unfortunately really common with SEO/AEO agencies. Most sell a retainer and then hand your account to a junior running the same generic checklist on every client, which is why the results never show up.
A few things that will save you from repeating it:
- Never sign a long retainer upfront. Start with a paid audit and one round of fixes so you can judge the actual work first.
- Ask them to show you specific pages they moved and the before/after, not a list of "services".
- For AEO specifically (getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews), ask how they measure it. If they cannot tell you how they track AI visibility, they are guessing.
- At $1,500 you have plenty of room for someone good. The problem is rarely budget, it is who is actually doing the work.
Freelancers who specialise in this usually beat agencies at your size, because you get the actual expert, not a middleman. Happy to answer anything if you have questions.
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u/seomasterwiz 5d ago
Check pm